Jared McCann scores in 2nd game back, but Seattle Kraken lose in shootout

Earlier this season, the Kraken couldn’t seem to avoid overtime. On Monday they needed it for only the second time since Thanksgiving.

The Vancouver Canucks survived OT and bested their hosts in a shootout, 3-2 at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle has earned at least one standings point in five straight games.

There was some confusion as Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord left the net on a delayed penalty in overtime, playing the puck in front of the Canucks’ bench as he went. That was legal, as his replacement hadn’t hopped on the ice yet.

The Kraken lost control of the puck and the Canucks broke loose with an empty net in front of them. They scored into the cage and the first few bars of the Kraken’s final-buzzer song following a loss, Modest Mouse’s “Float On,” rang out.

Fans remained in their seats, buzzing angrily, but the goal didn’t count. As soon as the penalized team touches the puck on a delayed penalty, the whistle usually blows. Overtime continued and ended without a goal.

Freddy Gaudreau went first in the shootout and missed, which will ding his 15th-best, all-time shootout percentage of 55%. Eeli Tolvanen and Jordan Eberle also missed for Seattle.

Vancouver’s last shooter, Liam Ohgren, scored and queued up Modest Mouse, this time for real.

Much earlier in the night, Kraken fourth-liner Jacob Melanson’s first NHL point was a beauty. The 2021 fifth-round pick — appearing in his ninth career game with the team that drafted him — took the puck from the Kraken blue line to the left faceoff dot in Vancouver’s end, getting a little help from his Canucks defenders, who lost track of each other and were briefly tangled up.

Melanson took advantage of the spare second and dished the puck to Ryan Winterton, who tapped it past the outstretched foot of Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen.

Winterton was a healthy scratch the night before against the Philadelphia Flyers. He took Tye Kartye’s place in the lineup and scored his third career goal.

Daccord sent the puck up the boards to Melanson and notched the secondary assist, making it a trifecta of former Coachella Valley Firebirds on the scoresheet.

“Once you’re a ‘bird, you’re always a ‘bird,” Melanson reasoned after he was called up from the American Hockey League team on Dec. 13.

Daccord collected his third assist in 24 appearances this season, the most among all league goaltenders. Daccord has five assists since the start of last season, while no other netminder has more than three.

That was Seattle’s second goal of the opening period, which hasn’t been their best of late. The Kraken hadn’t scored a first-period goal since Brandon Montour tied a game against the Detroit Red Wings 1-1 on Dec. 6. Seattle went 10 games without a first-period goal. In the past five games, neither team scored.

Seattle is being outscored 18-29 in the opening stanza this season.

Previously, a Shane Wright slashing penalty had just finished being announced when the Canucks’ Linus Karlsson negated the man advantage by tripping Seattle’s Ryan Lindgren. Vancouver then made it a power play in the other direction with a bench minor.

Before the public address announcer could say “too many men,” Jared McCann scored in his second game back from an injury absence. He netted his fifth goal in just 13 games this season, as he’s been plagued by lower-body issues.

Still, in spite of his recent injury history, McCann dropped the gloves with Vancouver’s Conor Garland later in the period. It was a prearranged bout, as Garland elbowed McCann earlier. The gear started flying directly after a faceoff in front of Daccord.

It was a long one with no clear winner. McCann’s helmet flew off toward the end and he went flying over Garland before officials broke it up. McCann appeared no worse for wear after serving his fighting major.

While showing some grit is fine and good, the Kraken are already without top defenseman Brandon Montour, who appeared to injure his hand in a fight with Colorado’s Brent Burns and had surgery on it. He’s out until mid-to-late January.

They have a tough guy in the lineup in Melanson. But then Melanson would have been serving a five-for-fighting instead of setting up Winterton’s pretty goal.

McCann had previously dropped the gloves twice in the four and a half seasons he’s played for Seattle, and not since early 2023-24. Garland has dropped the gloves twice in both 2024 and 2025, including once with Brandon Tanev while he was playing for Seattle.

The fisticuffs fired up the crowd, but the Canucks scored right off the ensuing faceoff to tie the game. Vancouver canceled out Winterton’s goal, too, when Elias Pettersson scored 5:23 into the second period.

Lankinen stunned Kraken winger Kaapo Kakko twice — once on a breakaway just 44 seconds into the game, then with a diving save after his teammates’ defensive miscue. Kakko was wide open both times.

Daccord finished with 22 regulation stops to Lankinen’s 33.

The Kraken power play struck once on six attempts and the penalty kill finished off both Vancouver chances. Seattle’s penalty kill was still last in the league, barely, as of Monday afternoon. But the changes they made after a dreadful start to the season seem to be working. During the Kraken’s four-game win streak leading into this game, the PK was fourth in the league at 91.7%.

Tolvanen (two goals, four assists) was named the NHL’s second star of the week on Monday. It was a weird week to do it, because the league paused Dec. 24-26 for Christmas and both of Tolvanen’s goals were empty netters.

But they don’t ask how, and the Kraken were probably grateful for the infrequent honor. Brandon Montour earned a weekly honor last season, and before that, Jordan Eberle and Martin Jones (twice) were the only ones to do it. Vince Dunn has the lone league monthly award, as he was the third star of January, 2023.

The Canucks owned the fewest standings points in the league heading into Monday’s action. The Kraken extended a point streak against their nearest neighbors to six games, dating to Feb. 24, 2024. That’s their longest active run against a single franchise.

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